Resuming publication of population in custody monthly tables – Statistical Notice

March 2010 Resuming publication of the population in custody monthly tables – statement by the Chief Statistician Iain Bell

The monthly population in custody bulletin has not been released since the publication of June 2009 data on 31 July 2009 due to technical problems relating to the supply of data for statistical purposes. In line with the Code of Practice for Official statistics, on 9 October 2009 we announced our proposed timetable for resuming publication in two stages:

- From the publication of the October 2009 data, to once a month provide some of the information in the prison population monthly bulletin on the Prison service website;
- To resume the full publication in April 2010.

In line with this timetable, I can announce that full publication of the monthly population in custody tables will resume in April 2010, starting with the March 2010 data which will be published on Friday 30 April.

The monthly publication compares the latest figures with the prison population at the same date the previous year. Because data for the period July 2009 – February 2010 is not complete, and we will not be able to go back and input the missing information, some of the annual comparisons will not be possible in the monthly bulletins that report on July 2010 – Feb 2011 data.

In addition to the monthly release we also publish an annual volume, Offender Management Caseload Statistics, the 2009 edition of which is scheduled for release in July 2010. The publication includes a chapter on the prison population, with detailed breakdowns of the prison population by custody type, sentence length, offence and other prisoner characteristics. This chapter will report on the prison population as at 30 June 2009, and will therefore be unaffected by the data problems (which affected data from July 2009 onwards).

The annual volume will also report on the numbers entering and leaving prison during 2009. These chapters will be affected by the data problems, as some of the information needed for the detailed breakdowns (specifically sentence lengths and offences) is not available for the second half of the period covered by this report (July to December 2009). Wherever possible we will estimate data for the second half of the year in order to provide the fullest possible information. The publication will clearly identify which figures have been estimated, and set out the methodology used.

Iain Bell Chief Statistician Ministry of Justice Contact details and further information

For queries, comments or further information on the issues set out in this note, please contact:

Justice Statistics Analytical Services Ministry of Justice 7th floor 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ Email: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk